John Louk

We have accomplished much on our official membership list. It takes time and precision to re-create a membership list lost in the flood! I am thankful for all the work our administrative assistant has given to this project as well as for the many volunteers who have spent countless hours contacting people to confirm their membership status. While we are not completely finished, we have discovered that we have many active members as well as our treasured older members who were formerly very active. Like other congregations we also have some members who confirmed their membership status but have not been upholding our membership vows. As a congregation we are responsible for reaching out to inactive members and helping them become active again. A name written on a page does not make a member. Salem members promise to be loyal to Jesus Christ through The United Methodist Church and do all in our power to strengthen its ministries. Specifically, we promise to faithfully participate in its

As of March 25 the buildings we are currently using have been sold to a new church start (Calvary Chapel Cedar Rapids). Because they will not officially occupy the buildings until July or August, they have generously offered to let us stay as long as it is possible. They are going to do some work on the school building, however, that might require our departure. They probably need a couple of months (perhaps May and June) to get the work done. Therefore, we likely need to move out shortly after Easter. I am very grateful that we will not need to move before Easter! Previously, the Kenwood Park UMC offered hospitality to us, inviting us to share their building until we determine our mission and location. Our next step is meeting with Kenwood Park leaders to work out some details. When would our worship services occur? How do we combine youth and children’s ministries? What sort of space is available for our offices? What ministries can we share and what need to remain separate? And so o

Many people in the congregation continue to ask, Where is Salem going? What are we doing? For many, it feels like Salem is a ship adrift on the sea with no direction. That is a normal feeling. I want to address the questions by explaining what has been happening and how we can move forward. The work that has occurred since I arrived, besides just reacting to the flood, has been to restore the infrastructure of the congregation. Infrastructure is generally considered to be the underlying foundation needed for an organization to operate. For example, a society needs roads, water, power grids, communications systems, schools, and hospitals in order to function. “Critical infrastructure” refers to those elements that, if damaged or destroyed, for instance by a flood, tornado, earthquake, etc., would cause serious disruption of the organization. Salem lost critical infrastructure when the floodwaters surged last summer. We experienced “serious disruption.” Most obviously, we lost our buildi